Canucks Report: A Bright Future For the Boys

By Pierre Holmes · November 9th, 2018 at 11:55 a.m.

The Canucks are rolling and the team are proving everyone why you shouldn’t count them out.

It’s an exciting time to be a Canucks fan. Despite a number of injuries to their top defensive pairing and to a couple of their top penalty killers, the Canucks have been able to maintain a winning record of (9-6-1) through their first fifteen games.

The results of the Canucks’ goals have mainly come from their newest superstar, Elias Pettersson. The 19 years old Swede broke out into the league this year after playing last season in the Swedish Elite League, where he put up a record setting 56 points in 44 games as an 18 year old rookie.

Canucks fans were well aware of what they had at the beginning of the NHL season with Pettersson, however, many still criticized the Canucks for being a weak team that would most likely end up at the bottom of the standings again this year.

15 games have been played and the Canucks are still looking great, sitting in second place in the Pacific Division and 6th in the entire league. The Canucks are young, and many people question if this type of play from the team is sustainable, but the NHL today has turned into a young man’s game and the Canucks fit the bill.

Photo by Flickr user Chris Wierman.

Brock Boeser, 21, was off to a slow start but has found his pace potting 11 points in 13 games. Bo Horvat, 23, has been very reliable for the Canucks, recording 11 points in 15 games and winning 56% of face-offs, good for 2nd in the entire league. The weakest link in the Canuck roster today is goaltending. However, Jacob Markstrom, 28, has recorded 6 wins this year for the team tying him for second amongst all goalies in the league.

If asked last year if the Canucks would be a playoff team or not, every Canucks fan would have answered no. And they probably would have been okay with it, because the future always looks bright. However, no one expected the future to be now, and no one expected the future to be this bright.

With American Thanksgiving is around the corner, analytics will start claiming that the teams in playoff spots will remain playoff teams. Is it possible to sustain it all season long? That, we will see. But for now, enjoy the youngsters working their magic night in and night out, and remember anything is possible in hockey. Canuck fans could be celebrating in the years to come.